Seven Treasures
by vexatively
Summary: Who said only fairy tales get happily ever afters? "Once upon a time…"


**Seven Treasures**  
_by **vexatively  
**_

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"Kagome! Kagome!" exclaimed Shippou, looking high-spirited with a bouncy tail. Almost, but not quite. They had just dealt with an unusually troublesome demon and he was _trying_ to lift everyone's spirit. "Tell me a story. Pleae, Kagome."

He almost seemed to look around for _anyone_ to cheer up; his eyes landed on Rin, shying away from the group's attention. _Maybe… just maybe…_If he ever got her to loosen up, with their combined energy, everyone would have been smiling and laughing by bedtime, save Rin's looming, stoic guardian. With the fire glowing near her, a tail warmly resting against her back and the delicious feeling of basking under a protective gaze, Kagome was feeling utterly relaxed.

"All right, Shippou," she indulged him, wrapping an arm around his smaller torso. "_Once upo_…wait a minute. Let me get my jacket, it's—" She paused as Inuyasha threw his billowing _kariginu_ towards her. Everyone else continued _looking_ immersed in whatever chore captured their attention; Inuyasha's ear visibly twitched.

Sango finished cleaning her _hiraikotsu_ and scooted nearer her friends. As soon as she settled down, Miroku finished stoking the fire and made his way towards his fiancée, hands spread in an atypical 'truce'. His hand was around her waist, encouraging her to lean into his embrace.

"_Once upon a time, there was a young fox; he had lost his parents at a very young age. But, he was very strong, for not many creatures, human or demon, young or old, could stand watching their parents die in front of their very eyes. But he did. He cried— but no one blamed him— and crawled towards their bodies._

"'_How can I be safe? Where can I live?' He buried his face into their fur, still warm, hiding his tears. Suddenly, he felt their spirits and heard their voices, although there was no sound._ Seek the seven treasures, my son, and you will find the place where you belong."

Absentmindedly stroking his flaming hair, Kagome continued her story. "_Before journeying to find the treasures, though, his honor demanded revenge upon the Thunder Brothers who killed his parents. There he met a half-demon and a priestess and, despite a rough beginning, they helped him avenge the deaths."_

"_So now he joined them,_" Miroku continued with a devilish grin,"_and asked if they will help him look for the seven treasures that was his namesake and they agreed, for while the half-demon was obstinate, the priestess was kind and soothed his unease. Much like—_"

Sango interrupted hurriedly, not knowing what kind of innuendo was running through his head. "_And on the way they met a demon-slayer, the last of her kind, with a nekomata and a perverted un-monk who agreed to help them as well. The group battled and befriended demons for their silver, scaled the castles in the Western Lands for their gold and crystal, swam depths to gather the pearls and the coral, endured the blazing heat of Fuji-sama for the agate._"

"_But there was still the lapis lazuli._" Kagome could see her charge nodding off, crawling deeper into her sleeping bag contentedly. "_And only one person had it, a wise old lady who needed it to protect her town._"

"_And the group went to the hag,_" the hanyou said, joining the group story with his gruff words. He looked away, blushing, under everyone's lethargic scrutiny. "_The baba wasn't that cruel, so she let the nosy kit and his friends borrow her old rock." _He paused."Feh… the kid's asleep now."

"Please continue, Kagome-sama." Miroku was content; he was willing to prolong the rare times of relaxation.

"_They brought the treasures together. Gold, silver, pearl, agate, coral, crystal, and lapis lazuli in a circle around the small fox. Nothing happened."_

"But… how does the story end?" Sango asked with a smile, when it looked as though Kagome was settling in for the night. "It's not polite to start a story and leave it unfinished."

"But dearest Sango," teased Miroku, kissing his beloved chastely on the forehead. "Stories really have no end. Does our story have an end?"

"Well… no," Sango admitted, rising. "B-but… Kagome! What happened?"

The miko was already lightly snoring, her hand fisted in fox fur. The demon-slayer huffed a little bit before resigning herself to sleep, Miroku following suit.

And a pair of emerald eyes surveyed his… no, _their_ home with an uncharacteristically inscrutable expression. Inuyasha, with his golden eyes and golden heart. Sesshoumaru, the opposite of gold, sometimes, but complimentary nonetheless. Miroku, never without a pearl of wisdom. Loyal Kirara, as fiery as a volcano from whence the agates came. Sango, seemingly fragile, but able to rise from misfortune and build her foundations back up like coral. Rin, who was sweet, naïvely so, and ostensibly as transparent as a crystal. And the lapis lazuli… _Kagome_ and her blue eyes and intense way of standing up for what she believed in, as unwaveringly as a stone.

He belonged with _them_, believed in _them_, his makeshift un-family, but a family even so, with 'parents' odder than he would have ever dreamed. _They_ were his treasures, and he will protect them, even at the cost of his own life.

After all, he learned from the best.

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**__****  
**_**Disclaimer:** __Inuyasha has yet to be mine. The rights of claiming this little slice of genius goes to Rumiko Takahashi-sama alone. But, I _do_ enjoy playing with the odd character to satisfy my tortured fangirl heart.  
_

_**E/N:** Originally posted for the iyfic(underscore)contest__'s Week 147 (Parents and Children) challenge on June 10, 2008._**_  
_**


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